Best Laid Schemes

On a supposed chase after the already dead Kale Rodale most of the adventurers scatter and escape into the woods. Their salvation may lie with the town barkeeper who has orchestrated their escape from prison and asked them to meet him at the Ruins of Fastormel .

The Dragonborn Encampment:

While escaping into the woods in the form of Kale Rodale, the changeling Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth comes upon an encampment of Dragonborn soldiers. He disguises himself in the form of a Dragonborn, and with the tentacle arm wrapped up enters the camp as an injured soldier.

What he has stumbled across is a young group of scouts for Dythan’s Legion in search of any artifact of The Ancient Empire of Arkhosia to complete their initiation. Their intel leads them to believe that an Arkhosian outpost once resided along the shores of lake Nen. Their Arcanist has gone missing.

After some initial conversation Nikolai realizes there are different looking crystal shards surrounding the camp radiating an Astral Sea type Aura. He touches his tainted arm to the crystals and they form around his arm in a crystalline shell. Ishmer having taken a brutal psychic attack from the fell taints has slowly regained his wits and after the prison escape wandered through the woods and came upon the Dragonborn encampment. Introducing himself as a friend Ishmer and Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth begin experimenting with the newest incarnation of the tainted arm. It seems to have some sort of reality warping properties, and also seems to repel attacks with a strange force.

Daniria joins the group after convincing the guards who were in pursuit to abandon their chase. The whereabouts of Balasar witht he body of Kale are unknown.

Back to the Ruins:

Nikolai, Danira, Toran, and Randor decide to head to the ruins to meet up with Theo Quickmire who broke them out of prison and asked to meet at the Ruins of Fastormel he has a method of escape for them from the wrath of Tav Michaelmas .

As they near the ruins the crumbled tower has been surrounded with a mist and out from it steps some armed guards and the Bartender Theo.. He asks them to come inside quickly through the mists down to his Alchemy Lab. The adventurers wary because they have witnessed the lab before decide to have the guards escort them the LONG way down which is supposedly filled with monsters.

As they engage the first wave of fell taints on the LONG way down, the beasts act very strange seemingly worshiping the changed arm of Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth. they make their way through the passageways down to the work room of Theo and more Fell Taints follow Nikolai..

The Alchemists Workroom:

As they enter the room there is a Large silent waterfall and a portal of unknown origin is in the middle of it. The water is intangible as it was in the caverns. Theo welcomes the adventurers into his workroom and is more than a bit stunned to see the fell taints following. There is also a Shardmind creature fused to the floor. He looks like a humanoid version of the crystals scattered throughout the area.

*Questions and Answers: *

Theo Quickmire Friendly innkeeper of Renwood and apparently Master Alchemist?? These adventurers have worked with Kale Rodale and have interacted with the creatures and crystals and brought back the changed body of Ezekiel Michaelmas Never before has a turned creature changed back!

Theo is a frustrated alchemist who was removed from his post by his employer due to his lack of success. As he wandered looking for a way to prove himself he discovered the waterfall, portal, crystals, and their trans-formative properties. This could be just the thing to get him back into the good graces of his Mast- errr.. Employer.

He set up shop in the sleepy town of Renwood as an inkeeper and began experimenting on the changed townspeople. Knowing he needed more money and more subjects. (These Renwood folks just were not careless enough) he has decided to drum up business by poisoning travelers with beverages made from the distilled essence of the portal water and crystals/ turning them into monsters. The monsters have attracted more adventurers from all around and have made the inn
quite popular.

Theo thinks that if he can perfect this potion and an antidote he can solve both the towns problems AND get this old job back, or maybe a better one!

Theo’s drinks are harmless unless the second component, a morning beverage or a healing potion is taken the next day. As the two drinks are inert otherwise, Thaddeus has managed to fool the few investigators who took notice of the drinks, up until now..

He invites the adventurers back to the the Inn where he will help clear their name, if they will help him perfect his antidote. They are obviously skeptical and do not trust him.

The Shardmind:

Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth examines the shardmind and notices a protective force around the body. He touches his crystal arm to the shield and the Shardmind comes to Life grabbing him and pulling him in. Light flares around the two and Nikolai’s arm seems to shrink. they are locked eye to eye and in a flash they are separated and the Shardmind ceases to glow.

Nikolai agrees to go back to the village and daniria and the stunned young dragonborn follow using a Kitten herding maneuver to shed his arm of his Fell taint followers.

Dragonborn Quest:

Back at the Dragon born encampment, Ishmer has made friends with the remaining dragonborn and agrees to help them with their quest for an artifact. they return to the ruins and explore eventually finding the room with the portal, the fell taints are nowhere to be seen. Ishmer decides to take a risk and sticks his hand in the portal and feels a tingling but his hand comes out unscathed. So he asks the Dragonborn to wait there for him and he dives through the portal.

Moments later he appears back in the workshop and a torrent of water is rapidly filling the room, he yells to the Dragonborn to tell his friends where he went and dives back through the portal.

In the cavern were small outcroppings of glowing crystals and some of the adventurers pocketed a handful of shards. also in the room were several bodies of adventurers and townsfolk, as well as a Dragonborn Soldier who with his dying action handed a tattered blue and gold banner with the head of a platinum dragon on it to Balasar with the ominous words of “Ancient one.. Take it”. A search of the other bodies revealed very little. a small coin purse hidden away and a medallion with a family crest and the name Jensen on one of the humans. Other than that it seems the equipment have been picked clean of any useful items.

Surprising the Fell Taints

Listening down a curving hallway one of the crew hears something moving up to them and they prepare for battle. around the corner appears 2 Fell Taint Lashers, 2 Fell Taint Pulsars and a Fell Taint Thought Eater. After a spirited battle in the entrance way and a showing of strange touch magic healing by Kale Rodale our heroes defeated the Fell Taints. several healing potions given to the group by Theo Quickmire were consumed Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth experienced some discomfort after the fact but Balasar did not.

Scouting and Experimentation:

After a short rest our heroes (And Kale) sent scouts down the spiral hallway and discovered More Fell taints and a strange and terrible mouth on legs with dimensional powers. After the scouts reported their findings a few things happened.

2. Snapdragon “Ruben” Scribson pulled out the bubbling grey potion he picked up in the alchemy lab and poured out a drop on to the floor. as soon as the drop touched the ground it took off like a rocket and clung to the arm of Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth apparently changing his left arm into the tentacle of a Fell Taint

3. Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth Broke off some shards from an outcropping with his tentacle and some powers were gained.

4. Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth touched Daniria with his new appendage and she took some psychic damage.

Battle with the Dimensional Marauder

The adventurers then went down the tunnel as a group to face the creatures below. the battle raged on and eventually the dimensional marauder was forced to take Balasar hostage warping deeper into the cavern. Our crew pursued and after a short battle the creature dropped dead. It’s teeth were taken as a trophy by Balasar

The Silent River:

With a chance to catch their breath the heroes realize they are in a room with a swiftly flowing river that plunges into a deep hole yet it makes no sound. after further inspection it is determined that it is in fact real water that is phased out of this plane of existence. There have been many multi planar and realm creatures and objects in this cavern. The crystals here emminate with power originating from the Shadowfell.

The Death of a Child:

After additional examination of the Dimensional creatures body it changes into that of a human child, with his teeth removed. The child is recognized as Ezekiel Michaelmas adopted son of Tav Michaelmas .

Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth insists on prayers to the raven queen for all of the dead which can now be assumed to mostly be changed townsfolk and adventurers. He also requests that they take the child’s body back to his father. After using his changeling ability to disguise his new appendage they leave the caverns to head back to Renwood.

Wrongfully Accused:

At the very moment the childs body is revealed to Tav Kale Rodale accuses the adventurers of murder and mutilation. Tav Michaelmas takes his sons body and orders his men to throw everybody in a holding cell. It is later rumored in grief that he ordered the public execution of everyone involved innocent or not.

In the middle of the night Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth is awakened by the voice of Theo Quickmire who tells them he knows they are innocent and that they never should have trusted Kale Rodale he explains that there are rumors of their execution but he will help them escape back to the caverns with a distraction. Kale Rodale spends most of his time meditating in the corner while Daniria contemplates kicking him.

Prison Break:

During a changing of the guard the cells click open and all but one guard is pulled to the tavern where a huge fight has broken out. Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth_ opens his cell while Snapdragon “Ruben” Scribson attempts to turn Kale Rodale into a frog but fails. Kale kicks open his cell door yelling for the guard on duty, throws off his gloves and grabs the left arm of _Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth revealing it as a tentacle and empowering it with a bright purple glow, and Kale drops lifeless on to the floor.

Daniria makes a break for the weapons and Content Not Found: nikolai-drikoneth in an attempt to subdue the guard ends up killing him. Balasar grabs the lifeless body of Kale Rodale and hides it under his cloak while Nikolai changes form into Kale but is unable to disguise his arm. They make a run out the back of the barracks.

Snapdragon “Ruben” Scribson remains behind to explain the situation to the guards, and the story is that Kale went insane and killed the guard and the crew has given chase. the militia believe his story but to be safe Snapdragon is placed back into the cell and they pursue the rest of the group into the night.

Wee Beasties

Set on the southern shores of Lake Nen, Renwood has for a decade been just another settlement trying to survive. within the last 6 months however townsfolk have been going missing, children have been abducted from their homes and rumors of folks changing into horrible monsters of all types have been reported. Talk of treasure and great rewards in the catacombs around the town has spread through the vale via traveling merchants and wandering bards.

These rumors of adventure has attracted a wide variety of people seeking fame and fortune. the local militia has been overwhelmed, however the influx of visitors has been a boon for the local merchants and tradesmen. In fact some say there are more adventurers and their families in town now than original residents.

The hub of it all is the Lakeside Tavern where Theo Quickmire is the owner and barkeeper. He has turned the Lakeside from a barnacled shanty into the finest tavern in the Vale.

An Odd Mage Kale Rodale (referred to as “slimy” by Theo) has been enlisting adventurers to help him discover the source of a strange power that emanates from local ruins and a cavern system nearby. his past attempts have been less than successful.

He has recruited 6 new ummm… brave adventurers to help him on the promise of 500 gold, lots of equipment and knowledge of the source of power he seeks. After a few rounds of beverages it was agreed to leave at first light.

The adventurers set out after a good nights rest. (However the two Dragonborn has a nightmare about a Silvery and Gold dragon in deep distress) after half a day’s travel they arrived at the ruins of Fastormel, a mage tower outpost dating back to the Nerath Empire. after a relatively quiet search of the area, the adventurers searched the basement of the partially collapsed tower and discovered an alchemy lab with a strange purple glowing wall and various potions and components. A grey Bubbling potion, a vile of acid, and the components for a healing potion were picked up by Snapdragon “Ruben” Scribson.

Leaving the basement the crew made their way to the caverns north of the ruins, where a feeling of dark power was sensed. at Kale’s urging the adventurers entered the cavern.

In the cavern were small outcroppings of glowing crystals and some of the adventurers pocketed a handful of shards. also in the room were several bodies of adventurers and townsfolk, as well as a Dragonborn Soldier grasping a tattered banner with the head of a platinum dragon on it. a search of the bodies revealed very little. a small coin purse hidden away and a medallion with a family crest and the name Jensen on one of the humans. Other than that it seems the equipment have been picked clean of any useful items.

Listening down a curving hallway one of the crew hears something moving up to them and they prepare for battle. around the corner appears two writhing masses of tentacles which surround a gaping mouth.